Genetive Case- 's possessive

To understand and practice the genetive case 's

PRACTICE:

Do at least five links to practice the 's in possession

http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/nouns-possessive.htm

Possessive 's

When we want to show that something belongs to somebody or something, we usually add 's to a singular noun and an apostrophe ' to a plural noun, for example:

• the boy's ball (one boy)
• the boys' ball (two or more boys)

Notice that the number of balls does not matter. The structure is influenced by the possessor and not the possessed.

	one ball	more than one ball
one boy	the boy's ball	the boy's balls
more than one boy	the boys' ball	the boys' balls

The structure can be used for a whole phrase:

• the man next door's mother (the mother of the man next door)
• the Queen of England's poodles (the poodles of the Queen of England)

Although we can use of to show possession, it is more usual to use possessive 's. The following phrases have the same meaning, but #2 is more usual and natural:

1. the boyfriend of my sister
2. my sister's boyfriend

Proper Nouns (Names)

We very often use possessive 's with names:

• This is Mary's car.
• Where is Ram's telephone?
• Who took Anthony's pen?
• I like Tara's hair.

When a name ends in s, we usually treat it like any other singular noun, and add 's:

• This is Charles's chair.

But it is possible (especially with older, classical names) to just add the apostrophe ':

• Who was Jesus' father?

Irregular Plurals

Some nouns have irregular plural forms without s (man > men). To show possession, we usually add 'sto the plural form of these nouns:

singular noun	plural noun
my child's dog	my children's dog
the man's work	the men's work
the mouse's cage	the mice's cage
a person's clothes	people's clothes

http://www.eslcafe.com/grammar/showing_possession01.html

Showing Possession (#1), by Dennis Oliver

There are several common ways of showing possession in English. The most common one is through use of the apostrophe ( ' ): 1.   Make most singular nouns possessive by adding 's: John's car the boy's room my friend's father  my neighbor's car       2.   If a singular noun ends in s or ss, it's possible to add 's, but many people feel that adding only an apostrophe looks better and is clearer--especially if the noun ends in ss: Dennis's car / Dennis' car Charles's children / Charles' children Russ's room / Russ' room Bess's father / Bess' father       3.   If a noun is plural and ends in s, make it possessive by adding only an apostrophe: the boys' room my parents' jobs the students' opinions his brothers' names       4.   For common words with irregular plurals, add 's: the children's toys women's gymnastics men's clothing Special Notes: 1.   Possessives for words ending with s are pronounced the same if they use 's or ': Dennis's / Dennis' = 'Dennisuz' Charles's / Charles' = 'Charlesuz' Russ's / Russ' = 'Russuz' Bess's / Bess' = 'Bessuz.'       2.   Singular possessive nouns ending with 's and plural possessive nouns ending with s' also have the same pronunciation: your son's / your sons' = the same pronunciation the neighbor's / the neighbors' = the same pronunciation my brother's / my brothers' = the same pronunciation       3.   For singular / plural nouns, adding 's or ' can change meanings: his son's room = the room belonging to his son his sons' room = the room belonging to his sons the neighbor's children = the children of only one neighbor the neighbors' children = the children of two or more neighbors       4.   The combination 's doesn't always show possession: 's can also mean is or has. To know which meaning is intended, look at the words following 's: Mary's father ( 's shows possession ) Mary's intelligent ( 's = is ) Mary's working hard. ( 's = is ) Mary's been there many times. ( 's = has ) Mary's had problems. ( 's = has )